Everyday we’re confronted with news of the rising rates of depression and anxiety. We see many commercials for insomnia and digestive aids, and more of us are overweight than ever before. We don’t think it odd that driving elevates the aggression level in many otherwise sane people and our news is filled people picking on each other. If we were lab rats, the scientists in charge might well be alarmed. I’m not sure how big a role it plays, but it’s something I’ve wondered about: how much of what we’re seeing is the result of perpetual over-stimulation? How well are we coping when our senses are relentlessly bombarded, day in and day out, with mostly artificial stimuli?

     For most of our history, we rose and set with the sun. Without light there wasn’t much to do but go to sleep. Until quite recently, the average family couldn’t afford to light their home enough to make a difference. Everything we felt, tasted, smelled, heard, or saw was natural and nothing existed outside of the earth’s natural rhythm. I imagine that low population density offered time for solitary quietude each day, and without today’s distractions, the average person was very aware of seasonal changes and celestial motion.

     We know that plants thrive or struggle depending on moisture and soil conditions, and that flowering and fruiting depends on levels of light. Eggs are related to Easter because hens, left to themselves, only lay them in daylight, and there’s more daylight after spring equinox.

     Why do we think we’re any different? The scene I’m in right now looks fairly peaceful, but I’ve got the radio on, I can hear the heat cycling on and off, and I’m sitting in front of a computer monitor under fluorescent lights. The other night, Guy and I were at the grocery store. In addition to the lights, ventilation, and background music, the cash registers were beeping and there were little TVs showing us commercials while we waited in line.

     It’s possible for some of us to go from home to work and back again without going out into the open air. In this area, it’s hard to be away from traffic noise when we do. How often does driving include music, talk radio, or phone conversation? In many homes, television provides constant background noise. We don’t get enough sleep so we drink coffee and eat sweets to keep us going, and many people eat while working at their desks rather than take time for lunch.

     Our kids start daycare or school early in the morning and spend their late afternoons and evenings in sports or other structured activities. Their every spare minute is filled with video games and music. Many cars have VCRs or DVDs to keep them entertained on the road. We look at Las Vegas as being the epitome of artificiality, but how closely does much of our life resemble it? As a society, we are so addicted to over-stimulation that we don’t know how to act without it and its absence causes real discomfort. Many of us are not comfortable with only ourselves for company.

     It would do us well to crank it down a notch or two ... or ten. While artificial light, cars, music, and television are all good things, we have to be aware that constant exposure to them takes its toll, and we need more than a week’s vacation a year to renew ourselves. We’d all do better if we spent a little time outside each day. Escaping to the woods or lakefront would get us away from the noise and smell of traffic for a while, and going a distance from city lights would reacquaint us with the night sky. Don’t we all deserve the time to eat our meals in a relaxed and companionable manner? Let’s make time once in a while to sit alone in the quiet and do nothing, and feel OK with it. Also, let’s make sure we give our children enough downtime and quiet attention that they grow up comfortable with themselves and with peace and quiet.